Package of buttons



W. E. ELLIOTT.

PACKAGE 0F BUTTONS. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 17, 1916. RENEWED JUNE 3,1918.

Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

UNITED STATES, PATENT OFFICE.

' WILLIAM E. ELLIOTT, 0F GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR' TO AMERICAN BUTTON & FASTENER, COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

PACKAGE OF BUTTONS.

Specification of Letters latent.

Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

Application filed January 17, 1916, Serial No. 72,651. Renewed June 3; 1918. Serial No. 238,061.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM ELIJAH ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Packages of Buttons; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a package of buttons or the like and particularly to a package of buttons having attaching loops, such as shoe buttons with the usual eyes or shanks.

It is an object of the invention to provide displacement but from which the buttons. may be readily removed when desired.

The invention will be illustrated and described as applied to a button strip by means of which a'series of buttons may be delivered to some apparatus such as an attaching machine in the desired position in sequence and the use of the customary hopper and separating devices avoided. It will be understood however, that the invention is not limited to any particular form of mounting sheet and it will be found generally useful when it is desired temporarily to retain a plurality of buttons on a mounting sheet.

In the preferred form, the button eyes are passed through the mounting sheet and the buttons are retained thereon by oppositely disposed tongues upon the sheet which enter the eyes of the buttons and engage the sides thereof. Such tongues may conveniently be formed by perforating the mounting sheet and providing angularly arranged cutsat the ends of the elongated perforations. Such a construction also provides other tongues disposed adjacent to the ends of the elongated perforations and arranged fr1ctionally to engage the outer sides of the button eye. Nith the arrangement to be specifically described, the button eye is.

forced through the perforated strip and displaces the tongues therein, after which these tongues are returned to place to engage against the inner and outer sides of the legs of the eye yieldingly to hold the buttons upon the sheet.

Features of the invention will be best understood by a consideration of the following specification taken in. connection with the accompanying drawing, in which;

Figure 1 is a plan view of a strip showing at one position the formation to receive the button loop, and at another position a button attached to the strip, and at still another position a button thus attached with the head removed.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an angular view enlarged of a portion of the strip illustrating the position of the 'parts which engage with the loop when a button. is attached to said strip.

Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawing. I

In practice, I prefer to mount the buttons on a long comparatively narrow and thin strip 1 of flexible material such as paper and the like though it is to be understood that the mount is quite as effective irrespective of the formation and particular shape of the card or strip. At a plurality of spaced apart intervals in the length of the stripthe material is perforated for the reception of the button loops. In, the preferred embodiment, these perforations are formed by straightline cuts or slits 2 and 8, but it will be understood that the invention is not limited to this particular form of perforation and is independent of whether or not any material is removed from the strip. It will be noted that the perforation 2 is elongated to receive the loop of a button and that each of the lines 3 is disposed at an angle to line 2 and to each other thereby forming two opposed triangular tongues 4 at opposite ends of the line'2 and also forming adjacent locking tongues .5, one at either side of the parting line at 2 with their adjacent edges in close proximity or substantial contact.

.The particular design or construction of the button is immaterial but is here shown as comprising .a head 6 depending from which is an attaching loop 7 formed preferably of wire, the opposed legs 8 of which are secured in the head in any desired or preferred manner. V

In attaching buttons to this strip the loops 7 are positioned so as to lie directly above the parting at the line 2 and then forced through the strip, it being evident that when this occurs the locking tongues 5 are bent away from each other to permit the passage of the loop while each of the triangular tongues 4 is bent downward into the position shown in Fig. 2 frictionally to engage the outer sides of the legs 8. WVhen the loop 7 has passed a distance through the strip, the tongues 5 by reason. of the resiliency of the material return to their original positions, in which, as will be seen from Fig. 3, the tongues 5 have side edge portions bearing against the legs of the loop. Considering the form of this strip with the buttons inserted, as shown in Fig. 3, it will be seen to comprise an elongated cut 2 having an opening at each end, the sides of which are in frictional engagement with the legs of the loop 7 It is evident therefore that the return of the tongues 5 to their original positions forms retaining means for preventing the accidental removal of the buttons, these tongues in effect locking the button against removal except upon the application of force sufficient to bend the tongues apart. The locking effect of the tongues will be sufiicient to retain the buttons in all ordinary cases but will permit them to be removed when desired upon the application of suflicient force.

I have shown the parting at 2 as positioned lengthwise of the strip 1. The particular location of the parting with reference to the strip is not material to the invention, however, as the buttons can be attached in the same manner whether the line 2 is lengthwise of the strip, or transverse thereof, or positioned at any angle with respect to the sides of said strip.

I claim 1. In a package of buttons, a member hav ing an elongated cut therethrough with branch cuts at each end of said elongated cut located at an angle to each other, thereby forming a tongue at each end of the elongated cut and a locking tongue at each side of said cut, and a button having a loop attached to said member by the said tongues, substantially as described.

2. In a package of buttons, a thin buttonreceiving member, a button provided with a closed loop, said loop passing through the member, locking tongues on said member extending from opposite directions into the loop, and other tongues onsaid member bearing against the outer sides of the legs of said loop, said tongues having a predetermined form, substantially as described.

3. In a package of buttons, a thin elonf gated strip of paper formed with a plurality of elongated main cuts, each having a pair of branch cuts at each end of said main cut positioned at an angle to each other and to the main cut, a plurality of shoe buttons each having a closed loop attached to said strip, a tongue at each end of each main cut to engage against each leg of the loop, and a tongue at each side of the main out within the loop of the button, substantially as described.

l. In a package of buttons, a button-receiving member, a button provided with a loop, said loop passing through said memher, and oppositely disposed tongues of like formation and each narrower at its free end than where it attaches to said member entering the loop from opposite sides to retain the button 011 said member, substantially as described.

5. In a package of buttons, a button-receiving member, a button provided with a loop, said loop passing through said memher, and a pair of oppositely disposed tongues of like formation on the member entering the loop from opposite sides to retain the button on the member, substantially as described.

6. In a package of buttons, a button-receiving'member, a button provided with a loop, said loop passing through said member, and a pair of oppositely disposed tongues on the member entering the loop from opposite sides thereof, and with their adjacent edges in close proximity.

7. In combination, a narrow strip of paper and a plurality ofshoe buttons each including a head and loop mounted in a row on said strip, said loops being inserted through the strip, and tongues of paper of predetermined form engaging with and bearing against the legs of each loop on the outer sides thereof.

8. In a package of buttons, a mounting sheet, a button provided with a loop, said loop passing through said mounting sheet, and a pair of oppositely disposed tongues upon the sheet entering the loop from opposite sides thereof and extending into substantial contact, each tongue having a side iadge portion bearing against one leg of the oop.

9. In a package of buttons, a mounting sheet, a button provided with a loop, said loop passing through said mounting sheet, and a plurality of pairs of oppositely disposed tongues of predetermined form upon the sheet engaging the loop.

10. In a package of buttons, a mounting sheet, said sheet being provided with a perforation, a button having a closed loop passed through said perforation, and locking tongues of definite character formed from said sheet adjacent to said perforation to extend into the loop, and tongues contacting with the exterior of the loop.

11. In a packageof buttons, a mounting sheet, and a button having a closed loop passed through said mounting sheet, said sheet being provided with a plurality of pairs of flexible tongues of predetermined form constructed and arranged to be displaced by the passage of the button loop through the sheet.

12. In a package of buttons, a mounting sheet, and a button provided with a loop passed through said sheet, said sheet being provided with flexible tongues of predetermined form arranged to be displaced by the passage of the button loop through the sheet certain of said tongues returning to their original positions to extend into the loop in opposite directions and other tongues remaining displaced and bearing against the loop to assist in the retention of the button upon the sheet.

13. In a package of buttons, a mounting sheet provided with an elongated perforation and with cuts angularly related to said perforation adjacent to its ends constructed and arranged to form tongues in the mount ing sheet, and a button having a loop inserted in said sheet and retained therein by the frictional engagement of the tongues with the outer surface of the loop.

14. In a package of buttons, a mounting sheet provided with an elongated cut and with a branch out at either end of the elongated cut angularly related to the same, and a button having a loop passed through said elongated out, said cuts being constructed and arranged to provide a tongue adapted to enter the loop and auxiliary tongues in frictional engagement with the sides of the loop.

15. A mounting sheet for buttons having loops, said sheet being provided with angularly related straight-line cuts constructed and arranged to provide tongues for engaging the inside and the outside of the loop of a button inserted through said sheet.

16. In a package of buttons, a mounting sheet, and a button provided with a loop passed through said sheet, said sheet being constructed and arranged to retain the button by being provided with an elongated perforation for the reception of the loop and with a branch out adjacent to the end of said perforation arranged to form a tongue for frictional engagement with the outside of the loop.

17. A mounting sheet for buttons having loops, said sheet being provided with an elongated cut adapted to receive the loop of a button inserted through said sheet and an opening adjacent to one end of said out arranged to permit its sides to frictionally engage one leg of said loop at a plurality of points.

18. A mounting sheet for buttons having 1 loops, said sheet being provided with a perforation, and pairs of locking tongues of definite character formed from said sheet adjacent to the sides and ends of said perforation.

19. A mounting sheet for buttons having loops, said sheet being provided with separated perforations, and a slit connecting said perforations and forming like opposite tongues normally in substantial contact at their adjacent edges and adapted to be separated by an entering loop of a button and thereafter resume their normal contacting relation through said loop.

20. A mounting sheet for buttons having loops, said sheet being provided with an opening to receive a button loop, there being a plurality of pairs of oppositely disposed projections from the sheet, the projections of the pairs normally extending toward each other across the opening in the general plane of the sheet for engagement with the button loop.

21. A mounting sheet for buttons having loops, said sheet being provided with an opening to receive a button loop, there being a plurality of pairs of oppositely disposed pro ections, the projections of the pairs normally extending toward each other across the opening in the general plane of the sheet for engagement with the button loop, one pair of projections being arranged to enter the button loop and another pair having connection to the body of the sheet relatively narrow as compared with the companion projections and arranged to bendat such connection by engagement with the loop, so that the projections lie along the loop outside the plane of the sheet.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

WILLIAM E. ELLIOTT. 

